Originally Posted by
hfly
No what I am saying, and I know this to be a fact, is that he intentionally caused problems at immigration upon his arrival, specifically so that he could be detained and questioned more solely for the purpose of promoting his upcoming movie, my Name Is Khan, which "coincidentally" dealt with some of the exact same issues.
I presume he had an interest in promotion of his movies and still does have such an interest, so it's certainly within the realm of possibility that he played up the CBP encounter at EWR. But what problems did he cause at immigration upon his arrival then or more recently?
I've met him repeatedly in the presence of past PMs and Presidents of India and in the the presence of the current Prime Minister and President of India; and from what I have seen he has not made a fuss when he and/or his wife are being screened the way I am. ... and that is in India where he is far more used to people -- officials and otherwise -- fawning over him.
His fingerprints were in our systems when he came -- even before his movie was released -- and so his identity then and more recently shouldn't have been an issue, if the expensive systems work and if the CBP employees aren't harassing individuals.
Originally Posted by hfly
So if after he and his people arranged this publicity stunt two years ago DHS might have now put something in their computer that is IS in fact a troublemaker (not Muslim, not terrorist, not Indian, but just an a88hole) it might be understandable, Much like how Snoop can now travel to the Uk again, but undergoes at least an hour of scrutiny each time (and not based on what charges he may have had filed against him, but because he and his possee acted as such troublesome a88holes once upon a time).
The "if" above isn't applicable here, as the "if" is not representative of reality.
Originally Posted by hfly
As for Saudis traveling to the US, the upper middle class and above Saudis that traveled to the US pre 9/11 still travel to the US in the same numbers and percentages (although I am sure that many of the Bin laden clan now avoid it). Malaysia has gotten a huge number of cheap Saudi package tourists, witness the hoards of them descending on Langkawi over the last ten years..........these people never were travelers to the US in the first place. Furthermore among the slightly more wealthy packs of male Saudi youth looking for hookers and drugs, their destination was rarely if ever the US.
For GCC citizens seeking prostitutes, Nevada and Florida was indeed not as popular with them as Morocco, Turkey, Lebanon, the UAE, parts of Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The upper middle class from the GCC countries haven't come to the US as frequently as they used to come to the US. Even many of those (non-Bin Ladens) who used to come before 9/11 either no longer came or no longer came as frequently during the past ten years.